The Tell Tale Heart: A Boy's Gruesome Plan
by OwlBeeWriter
Summary: A more gruesomely told story of Edgar Allen Poe's Tell Tale Heart, where a young boy falls victim to this old mans Evil Eye. Disclaimer: I do not own this story or any of Poe's other writings.


I feel my breath quickening into short gasps as I stare at the old man. His bulging grey eye clouded over, staring me down as if it were to be a challenge.

I gulp trying to focus my attention on something else as I squirm under the old mans stare.

"So, boy...you wish to stay with me for the night?" He asks, voice hoarse and raspy.

I nod slowly, unable to take my gaze off the blind eye. "Yes...sir, I will do whatever you ask of me. I just need somewhere to rest."

A smile curves his thin lips, making the wrinkles in his face all that more noticeable. "Then stay here you shall."

I let out a huff of relief, thinking at first he may turn me down and send me out into the cold of night to freeze to death. "Thank you much sir!"

The old man has me wash up the dirty dishes after having eaten supper with him and from behind me, he watches as he sits at the table. His bulging eye boring a hole into the back of my and head and I scratch where he stares, feeling myself itching with unease.

_He's watching me! It's watching me!_

I think to myself frantically and when I finish I let out sigh of relief. The old man then gets to his feet and shuffles towards the exit of the kitchen. "Come boy, I will show you a bed for the night." He gestures for me to follow him and I do as I'm told. There's a cot on the floor for me, just ready for me to lay down upon. I do so, feeling utterly exhausted but just as he's about to climb up the stares to his own bed he glances back at me, that clouded eye looking into the depths of my soul, judging me and making what it can of me.

It's like a separate being all of its own, having latched itself onto this poor unsuspecting old man and I fidget with my hands as I sit on the cot. The image of the eye never leaves my head, even after the old man has already gone up to his bed.

The Demons lurking within the house poke and prod at me and I try to shoo them away, the pounding of mine own heart causing me to become uneasy and frantic.

_I want rid of it!_

I scream in my head, pulling at my hair in frustration the image of the eye causing my brain to scramble like eggs in a frying pan, giving the Devil a chance to creep into me, eating away at my soul with slow painful bites. I want to scream loud so the neighbors will come and take me away from this horrid place. I want to run out into the cold and jump into the frozen lake and drown myself. I want to take a knife and stab the life out of my heart, but I don't, I can't, because it will still haunt me. Whether in this life or the next that Demonic eye will haunt me until the end of this Earth.

_I must be rid of it!_

I tell myself furiously, leaping up out of my cot. I carefully head up the stairs, approaching the old mans room with fearful confidence. I reach a shaky hand to the brass knob and ever so slowly turn it counter clockwise, being as quiet as I possibly can.

_You must think I am mad...no I am clever, for I know what must be done to rid this poor man of the leech that feeds upon his soul. I must do this for the man, for he has done me a kindness. I am a clever boy for no one will ever know of this._

I slowly push the door open, it swings on its rusty hinges as this is done so. It makes a small squeaking sound, for its hinges are rusted and old. I cringe at the sound, stopping it before it can make any other sound. Peering in through the door I find the man sitting erect upon his bed. His pounding heart rings in my ears, bringing me to a silent halt.

"Who's there!" He calls, but I do not make a sound.

_That sound, it shall be cursed by my hand. You think I am mad? No, I am a clever boy for that pounding heart will suffer for the pain it has caused my bleeding ears._

I shake my head to clear it, however the pounding of the old mans heart is not muffled. In fact it grows louder and louder with its torment. Finally I have grown tired, it being now high moon.

The bulging glazed eye knows I'm here and it stares at me through the dark as I hide like a coward behind the door, with only my eyes peeking out from behind it. The eye burns into my forehead which is visible and I feel sweat begin to form on my brow.

Finding this teasing game growing old I leap out from behind the door and tackle the surprised and fearful old man. He lets out a cry of shock, struggling against me and I finally am able to get the upper hand, my thumbs pressed against his neck in a fury. He claws at my hands unable to loosen my grip on his throat. Finally he goes limp, the breath leaving him, though I can still hear the pounding of his mocking heart.

I stare down at him finding him to be stone dead, that glazed eye however is still glaring at me maliciously, making me wrinkle my nose in disgust.

I quickly retrieve a knife from the kitchen and jam the sharp tip into the socket where the Demon eye resides. I carve the eye out, blood gushing from where I do so. It runs down the old mans wrinkled face and I lean down, licking away the blood so as not to leave any behind for evidence. The taste of the blood is tangy and warm, like that of metal.

Triumphantly once the dark deed is done I hold the eye up before placing it in a wooden box and nailing it shut.

_You think I am mad? No, I am a clever boy for I shall pull up the floorboards and hide this evil eye, so no one will ever again suffer what I have suffered._

I then carve out the mans heart holding it up before me, blooding seeping in between my fingers as I do the same with it as I had done with the eye. It's pounding noise continues to haunt me as I do this and once it is sealed up beneath the floorboards I let out a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from my brow, the pounding fainter now than before.

It is getting later and I must finish this before morning draws near. To do so I chop the limbs off the man, blood spattering my face and I grin as this is done. I place the limbs beneath floorboards like the eye and heart before putting the core of the man with them. I seal up the floor as it had been before making it so no one will ever know.

I wash the blood from my face and the knife and right before I am able to lay back down to peace on the cot there is a knock at the entrance door. I growl in frustration, however feeling completely free of guilt.

_You see, I am a clever boy for no one will ever know of the old man beneath the floors._

I open up the door finding three officers of the police waiting.

"Hello boy, we are here for the concern of a neighbor who said they heard a cry." The lead officer explains the situation and I smile, thought to their faces I arise no suspicion, but beneath that a sly voice speaks deviously to me.

_They will never know..._

I beckon them in. "It was a mere nothing for I cried out in my sleep because of a dream." I then go on by explaining that the old man had entrusted his home to my care while he had been away on business. I show them the house, taking them to where I had place sectioned body beneath the floor, allowing them and encouraging them to search thoroughly. They do so and I smile again with satisfaction after they having found nothing.

They remain in the room and begin talking with one another of pleasures and I gladly listen, all the while making them comfortable. However for many hours they chatter on like this and I grow weary of it, all the while the pounding of that heart once again haunting my ears. As time goes on like this my frustration grows and I become paler and paler, for the officers will not leave. I even try to hint of their leave but they do not budge.

I remain calm as well as I can, but the pounding of the old mans heart beats on my head mercilessly, finally I let out a horrified scream and the officers turn to me pleased.

_They knew the whole time!_

"I did it!" I pull up the boards of the floor revealing the body and its severed parts. I clutch my head madly screaming as I crouch on the floor.

_Yes, I did it, for I am mad after all..._


End file.
